Sevenoaks Vine Cricket Club

Knockers

17 Jul 2015 - Charlie Compton

With skipper Charlie Compton suffering at Lords along with a couple of other notable Old Oaks the reins were handed to stalwart Bonze Billings who arguably shouldn’t have been at the game given his daughter was being married the next day. The game was against Knockers, with the Steve Trounce memorial trophy up for grabs.

The game started with only nine Old Oaks present but given the Knockers had only five players at the start the home team started in the field. The Aussie pro, Trevor Saker, opened the bowling in tandem with Alan Smith but Knockers openers Rupert Horner and (brother/son) S. Horner proved hard to move. Rupert retired on 26, with Saker taking S. Horner’s wicket nonchalantly caught by Bonze. After taking some stick in his 2nd over Alan was replaced by first gamer Howard Collins, who was impressive on debut taking 2/22 including a smart catch behind by Gibbo. Heroic skipper Billings battled with his dodgy shoulder to bowl 4 tidy overs for just 16 including a maiden in his 4th over. Rumbers 2 overs were also economical, and Knockers finished with an under par score of 3/106. Gary (sorry I’m late) Atkins opened proceedings with young Aussie ringer Nick Abley and got the Old Oaks off to a brisk start. Gary managed 19 while young Nick retired on 25. Nick’s father Gary batted three, making a third Aussie in the side. Given the Aussies form at Lords the three Aussie Old Oaks were undoubtedly valuable inclusions. Gary in his debut innings in England also managed retirement with 27. It was then left to two other debutants Jamie Lindsay and Howard Collins to ice the game, hitting the winning runs with an over remaining.

Stand in vice-captain Trevor Saker accepted the Trounce trophy after Bonze had to rush home to host 40 dinner guests, in doing so thanked the Knockers for the game and acknowledging the importance of the game, and thanked the Old oaks for their acceptance of himself over 6 years of visits to the historic club.